Seven things to see and do at Toronto Summer Music

The halls are alive with the sound of music.

Well, they soon will be, as the perennially popular Toronto Summer Music Festival launches its new season on Thursday; nearly 50 events across 23 days and nine different venues ranging from Bach to Benny Goodman and Telemann to tango with stops along the way to enjoy the music of a wide variety of great and undeservedly lesser known composers – dead and alive.

While the festival was in full swing last summer, it still faced the lingering logistical hurdles of putting on an early post-pandemic festival, including the uncertainty of whether audiences would be ready to return in their normal throngs.

“It feels like we’re returning to real life now, post-pandemic,” said Jonathan Crow, founding member of the New Orford String Quartet in 2009, concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra since 2011, and artistic director of Toronto Summer Music in the past seven years.

“There are bigger events this year and some of the guest artists may be better known. That return to normal, of presenting the great artists, is very nice for us. It feels like we are entering our first major main festival since 2019.”

After a tentative start in 2004 and 2005, and a full-fledged launch the following year, the festival has become an important part of Toronto’s live performance calendar.

Toronto Summer Music has a twofold but interrelated mission: to program a festival of top-notch performers and to run an academy, a summer intensive that provides high-level training and performance opportunities for emerging musicians and mature amateurs alike. It also aims to promote engagement between musicians and audiences in environments outside the concert hall.

The festival’s approachable personality has ensured a solid base of loyal attendees and backers, many of whom have come to know each other over the years, almost like an informal family of music lovers who even plan their summer vacations so as not to clash with Toronto Summertime. music.

Part of the festival’s appeal can be attributed to the scope of what’s on offer.

“There’s a reason we don’t call ourselves Toronto Summer Classical Music or Toronto Summer Chamber Music Festival,” explains Crow. “We believe there should be something for everyone. We want people to be able to browse our brochure and find something they’re confident they’ll enjoy, whether it’s what you might call hardcore string quartet repertoire, or the world of opera and even dance.”

The festival has several presentation streams in addition to the mainstage events. These include concerts in a smaller venue performed exclusively by academy peers, as well as what Toronto Summer Music calls ‘ReGeneration’ concerts at its home base, Walter Hall, with academy peers on stage with their professional mentors. The Toronto Summer Music Academy Community Program, July 24-29, offers a week-long opportunity for avid amateur musicians to rehearse and perform with professional musicians.

Every year, the festival waves a themed banner. This year it’s “Metamorphosis,” as Crow explained:

“Sometimes a theme guides our programming. This year it was the other way around. We had our regulars who came back and then quite a few newer artists who built their careers during the pandemic, and artists who were more active on social media because they had nothing else to do during that period; so we have this theme of metamorphosis, a transformation of the artistic landscape through the pandemic.

With so many to choose from it’s impossible to choose, but here are a few suggestions to whet the musical appetite.

Ana Maria Martinez

You don’t have to understand Spanish to enjoy the deep-rooted emotion in Grammy Award-winning, Puerto Rican-born soprano Ana María Martínez’ interpretations of songs by well-known composers like Joaquín Rodrigo, Manuel de Falla and Carlos Gardel, often called “the called father”. of the tango.” In addition to the haunting melody of Manuel Ponce’s ‘Estrellita’, Martínez, who graces the stages of major opera houses around the world, will also sing lesser-known gems. Those who want to delve deeper into the art of singing will want to attend Walter Hall’s masterclass – one of several masterclasses during the festival – that Martínez is holding for emerging vocal artists at TSM Academy on Friday at 3 p.m. (July 10, 7:30 p.m., Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, 80 Queens Park)

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If you’re going to borrow, borrow from the best. We’re not talking about musical plagiarism, a muddy concept at the best of times, but in this unusual collaboration, Jonathan Crow and pianist Philip Chiu once again team up to explore Beethoven’s enduring impact on later composers by quoting his work from Brahms to today. Crow will also perform Thursday at the Koerner Hall event on the festival’s opening night, an all-star lineup that includes Ukrainian pianist Illia Ovcharenko, winner of Calgary’s Honens International Piano Competition 2022, and renowned Canadian pianist Jon Kimura Parker, the league’s music director. Crow will also lead the New Orford String Quartet at its Walter Hall concert ‘Darkness and Light’ on July 26. (July 17, 7:30 p.m., Edward Johnson Building)

TSM X Banff

Talk about full circle. Through the triennial International String Quartet Competition, which began in 1983, Alberta’s Banff Center for Arts and Creativity has become the starting point for many great chamber music careers, including that of the event’s current executive director, violin and viola virtuoso Barry Shiffman. In 1992, Shiffman was a member of the Toronto-based competition-winning St. Lawrence String Quartet. Now he joins the newest winners, the New York-based Isidore String Quartet, for a performance of Tchaikovsky’s beloved but not-so-frequently performed string sextet, “Souvenir de Florence”, Op.70. The first part of what Crow says will be “a fun evening in an intimate venue with a cool vibe,” featuring compelling works by Dvorák, Telemann, Bartók and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw. The Isidore will also perform a standalone concert at Walter Hall on July 19. (July 20, 7:30 p.m., the Great Hall, 1087 Queen St. W.)

Tango in the dark

In a fusion of ballet and tango, Canada’s much-traveled dance duo PointeTango – Erin Scott-Kafadar and Alexander Richardson – joins forces with acclaimed Toronto tango music ensemble Payadora to tell a story of two lovers who discover each other as they travel across a city , Buenos Aires, transformed by the shadows of the evening. Tango dance is intensely rhythm-driven and steamingly passionate, but in terms of choreography, expect an injection of unusual ballet athleticism. (July 24, 7:30 p.m., Isabel Bader Theater, 93 Charles St. W.)

Flaming stars

Two Canadian international superstars give recitals in the sublime acoustics of Koerner Hall. Angela Hewitt is arguably the world’s most respected piano interpreter of JS Bach, and her full Bach Concerto features an exciting array of keyboard works by the German composer. Fans of soprano Sondra Radvanovsky were disappointed when she had to pull out of the title role in the Canadian Opera Company’s production of “Tosca” in May for personal reasons. Unless she sings it as an encore, there’s no Puccini show-stopping “Vissi d’arte” on Radvanovsky’s Toronto Summer Music program, but richness abounds in a repertoire that spans vocal music history, from 18th-century George Frideric Handel to The 62-year-old American composer Jake Heggie. (July 25, Angela Hewitt; July 27, Sondra Radvanovsky; both 7:30 p.m., Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W.)

Free! Free! Free!

Although you must reserve a seat, the festival offers several free events – donations are of course accepted. For example, in addition to the regular Walter Hall evening concert on July 14 featuring red meat repertoire—Haydn, Brahms, plus some contemporary music—the American Miró Quartet performs one of the festival’s compact, less formal “Shuffle Hours” from 5 to 6 p.m. concerts at the Heliconian Club, 35 Hazelton Ave., on July 11. On July 12, they will be performing a “Kids’ Concert” at Walter Hall from 11 a.m. to noon. Masterclasses are also free, as are the midday Heliconian Club concerts by talented young musicians from the Toronto Summer Music academy.

Everyone is welcome

Toronto Summer Music staff are always looking for ways to shake things up and make concerts more widely appealing and accessible. Sometimes it is by choosing less formal venues. You can book a pre-show dinner or take a sip as you listen to the musical wizardry of clarinet and digital accordion duo Bridge & Wolak at their “Bach to Benny Goodman” concert July 18 at Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas St. W On July 22 at 11 a.m., the festival has teamed up with Xenia Concerts to present the Rolston String Quartet at Meridian Hall, 1 Front St. E., in a family-friendly performance focused on embracing neurodiversity and disability. Everything about this free event is designed to be as accommodating as possible.

As Toronto Summer Music regulars know, festival passes offer the best deal with savings ranging from 15 to 25 percent, depending on the type and level of pass you choose. To see torontosummermusic.com for full program details and ticket information; call the Royal Conservatory of Music box office, 416-408-0208, or go in person to 273 Bloor St. West.

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